Why is it not Worth More?¶
If Bitcoin is true, then it should be worth more. Its value should be far greater, equal to the total amount of wealth on earth.
To any such criticism, one must ask, what should the price of Bitcoin be? And with what unit of account? That is, if Bitcoin should be worth more, then we can only ask:
more of what?
More silver?¶
Early on, Bitcoin was quick to challenge the value of silver. In fact it has exceeded silver's market cap more than once. That is, if a single Bitcoin could buy more than 83 kilograms of silver, then the value of Bitcoin will be greater than silver.
More gold?¶
Estimates for the total supply of gold vary wildly, but based on the most accepted estimates, if a single Bitcoin could buy more than 321 ounces of gold, then the value of Bitcoin will be greater than gold.
More real-estate?¶
Buy land, they're not making it anymore.
Should Bitcoin be worth more than the total value of all land on earth? It's certainly possible to theorize on a price, a number of Satoshis per sqft, such that Bitcoin would be more valuable than all real estate. But this isn't exactly useful nor practical.
Not all land is for sale, not in fiat nor gold nor Bitcoin. And the estimated market cap for real estate (over $300 trillion) is higher than the combined GDP of all all nations on earth (under $100 trillion). While we could price this at $14.3-million per-Bitcoin, it's difficult to think that there would still be a USD if Bitcoin became so valuable.
As is, all the money on earth (including Bitcoin) falls short of the estimated value of all land. Even during the gold standard this was true. There is not (and never was) enough gold to buy all the land on earth. This is necessarily true because there has never been a single global unit of account (not even gold), a money that all people across all nations and ideologies agree on as their store of wealth.
Even more confounding, the total value of all derivatives is measured in quadrillions of dollars, significantly higher than all the land and all the money on earth combined. Importantly, these kind of outlandish valuations are a unique phenomena that can only exist in fiat debt money.
More fiat?¶
Total estimates of all fiat money are impossible to measure. We're at the mercy of every central bank and nation state -- any one of which could inflate their money supply overnight (as they are wont to do). And because of this, it's impossible to calculate the minimum value of Bitcoin needed for it to exceed a given fiat currency (let alone all of them).
Perhaps the real question then is -- if Bitcoin is true -- why has fiat not yet collapsed?
Why has fiat not yet collapsed?¶
Every day that Bitcoin survives is another day of Bitcoin being de-facto true, that is, another day that no one has shown a single counterexample and proven Bitcoin as false. And likewise, every day that fiat (USD, EUR, Yen, etc) survives is another day that the de-facto truth of Bitcoin has not been sufficient for Bitcoin to become the world reserve currency and global money.
In other words, the adoption of Bitcoin may have reached the point where it is de-facto true, practically unstoppable, least of all by the usual political machinations of central planners and their delusions of power; and yet, as long as there is still a will and want for fiat currency, someone willing to take a job in exchange for fiat money, then fiat will persist.
Perhaps it will take centuries for all fiat money to collapse. Or perhaps the EUR and USD will hyperinflate tomorrow. Should anyone think such a hyperinflation of USD or EUR is impossible, look at the history of fiat money and hyperinflation events. While not as predictable as the tides, hyperinflation of fiat is as inevitable as a tsunami.
True value of Bitcoin¶
If Bitcoin is true, its total value is the true value of money itself. This is because Bitcoin has no utility other than as money. Even gold has industrial uses, meaning part of its value is separate from its monetary premium.
Bitcoin -- unlike gold, silver, and real-estate -- is pure monetary premium.
Fiat money is also a pure monetary premium, except its supply is theoretically infinite, and through the Cantillon effect fiat has obscured if not broken price signals in every market.
Bitcoin -- if it is true -- will send clear price signals into every market, allowing those markets to function properly. And only then will we discover the true value of fine-art, real estate, food futures, derivatives, government bonds, and so on, until finally we know the true value of money itself. Perhaps it will be far lower than the quadrillions of dollars we see in unfunded liabilities and derivatives. Whatever it will be, will be, and it will be a cold hard truth revealing the value of our civilization as it is, not as central planners and politicians proclaim it to be.
Money does not grow on trees.
Whatever the value, Bitcoin is the most ethical money to ever exist. Saving in Bitcoin is a way to opt-out -- opt-out of the fiat systems of control and coercion, opt-out of supporting endless wars, opt-out of central planning, and yes, even opt-out of the madness of modern art.
Bitcoin is money you can save without losing your soul. It is not a hedge -- its value can only increase along with civilization itself. As such, using Bitcoin is a choice, a choice in favor of a better future.